Who I am: I’m a postdoctoral research fellow at Stellenbosch University's Department of Economics, South Africa. I work with a great group of researchers at Resep. I’m also the PI of the Roots and Shoots study. I hold a PhD in Economics from Stellenbosch University, where I obtained a Master’s in Economics and  Bachelor’s in Value and Policy Studies. 

 

What I do: My work seeks to improve our understanding of the role of socio-emotional skills in supporting learning in contexts of poor school quality. These skills are highly predictive of academic outcomes in high-income countries, but we know very little about this association in LMICs. Does it help to be perseverant when you lack basic instructional materials or when your teacher lacks effective pedagogical skills and content knowledge? Can we rely on teachers to effectively deliver socio-emotional skills programmes when they can’t even teach children basic reading and mathematics skills? These are the kinds of questions I aim to answer in my research. 

 

My career goal is to inform policy that seeks to raise the learning outcomes of African children. I’m excited about the evidence from high-income countries that targeting socio-emotional skills may be one way to do this. But I also know that what works in these contexts may not work in contexts characterised by inadequate resources and poor teacher quality. To evaluate the potential of socio-emotional skills programmes to improve learning outcomes, I am working on:

• measuring the socio-emotional skills of South African children;

• investigating the relationship between socio-emotional skills and academic achievement in South Africa; and

• investigating whether this relationship varies between schools with different levels of quality. 

 

I hope to expand this work to evaluating causal effects of socio-emotional skills programmes on learning outcomes. 

 

My research has been featured on a number of South African media platforms, including the Financial Mail, the Daily Maverick, City Press and Rapport. I have contributed to radio conversations on SAfm and Radio 702.

 

The importance of my research has been recognised by the South African National Research Foundation through scholarships for both my Master’s and doctoral degrees. I have also been selected as an African Fellow in Education by the GEAI. 

 

I have consulted for a number of organisations, including the World Bank, the South African Department of Basic Education, TIMSS-SA, and the Allan and Gill Gray Orbis Foundation. 

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You can download my CV here.